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Friday, May 01, 2015

Alleged Leader of the Lorenzana Drug Trafficking Organization Extradited to the United States

An alleged leader of an international drug trafficking
organization based in Guatemala was extradited to the United States yesterday
to face international narcotics trafficking charges in the District of
Columbia, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Eliu Elixander Lorenzana-Cordon, 43, was arrested in
Guatemala on Nov. 8, 2011, after being indicted for conspiracy to import
cocaine into the United States, and has been detained since that time pending
extradition.He arrived in the United
States yesterday and was arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay
of the District of Columbia.

According to allegations contained in the indictment,
Lorenzana-Cordon is a leader of an international drug trafficking organization
that includes his father and several other family members.Between 1996 and 2012, the organization
allegedly received and stored multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Colombia for
later importation into Mexico and the United States.

These cocaine shipments, worth millions of dollars, were
allegedly transported to El Salvador on “go-fast” boats, and then smuggled into
Guatemala by land and air.The cocaine
was then inventoried and stored for later export to Mexico and eventually the
United States.

On April 27, 2010, the Department of Treasury’s Office of
Foreign Asset Control designated Lorenzana-Cordon as a Specially Designated
Narcotics Trafficker pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
due to his significant role in international narcotics trafficking and his ties
to the Sinaloa Cartel.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and
the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Lorenzana-Cordon’s brother, Waldemar Lorenzana-Cordon, was
extradited to the United States on Nov. 13, 2014, and is currently awaiting
trial.Lorenzana-Cordon’s father,
Waldemar Lorenzana-Lima, pleaded guilty on Aug. 18, 2014, to conspiracy to
import over 450 kilograms of cocaine into the United States, and is currently
awaiting sentencing.All three
defendants were charged in the same indictment.

The investigation was led by the DEA’s 959/Bilateral
Investigations Unit and Guatemala City Country Office, and was part of the
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.The case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and
Dangerous Drug Section.The Criminal
Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in
the extradition.The department
appreciates the assistance provided by the government of Guatemala.